Economy
The World’s Tech Giants, Compared to the Size of Economies
It’s no secret that tech giants have exploded in value over the last few years, but the scale can be hard to comprehend.
Through wide-scaling market penetration, smart diversification, and the transformation of products into services, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have reached market capitalizations well above $1.5 trillion.
To help us better understand these staggering numbers, a recent study at Mackeeper took the market capitalization of multiple tech giants and compared them with the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries.
Editor’s note: While these numbers are interesting to compare, it’s worth noting that they represent different things. Market cap is the total value of shares outstanding in a publicly-traded company and gives an indication of total valuation, and GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced by a country in an entire year.
Companies vs. Countries: Tech Giants
If Apple’s market capitalization was equal to a country’s annual GDP, it might just be in the G7.
At a market cap of more than $2.1 trillion, Apple’s market capitalization is larger than 96% of country GDPs, a list that includes Italy, Brazil, Canada, and Russia.
In fact, only seven countries in the world have a higher GDP than Apple’s market cap.
Further back is Microsoft, which would be the 10th richest country in the world if market cap was equivalent to GDP.
With a market cap of more than $1.9 trillion, Microsoft’s value is larger than the GDP of global powerhouses Brazil, Canada, Russia, and South Korea.
Though all of the tech giants fared well during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps none have stood to benefit as much as Amazon.
With online retail and web services both in high demand, Amazon’s market cap has grown to $1.7 trillion, larger than 92% of country GDPs.
Other Companies “Bigger” Than Countries
Tech giants aren’t the only companies that would give countries a run for their money.
Country/Company | Nominal GDP (country) or Market Cap (company) |
---|---|
United States of America | $21,433 B |
China | $14,343 B |
Japan | $5,082 B |
Germany | $3,861 B |
India | $2,869 B |
United Kingdom | $2,829 B |
France | $2,716 B |
Apple | $2,125 B |
Italy | $2,004 B |
Microsoft | $1,942 B |
Saudi Aramco | $1,888 B |
Brazil | $1,840 B |
Canada | $1,736 B |
Russia | $1700 B |
Amazon | $1,688 B |
Alphabet | $1,656 B |
South Korea | $1,647 B |
Australia | $1,397 B |
Spain | $1,393 B |
Mexico | $1,269 B |
Indonesia | $1,119 B |
$939 B | |
Netherlands | $907 B |
Saudi Arabia | $793 B |
Turkey | $761 B |
Tencent | $736 B |
Switzerland | $703 B |
Poland | $596 B |
Saudi Arabia’s state-owned corporation Saudi Aramco also makes the list, boasting a market cap more than double the GDP of its home country.
China’s tech giant Tencent also has a market cap that towers over many country GDPs, such as those of Switzerland or Poland.
Until recently, Tencent was also ahead of fellow tech giant Facebook in market cap, but the social network has climbed ahead and almost reached $1 trillion in market capitalization.
Of course, the biggest caveat to consider with these comparisons is the difference between market cap and GDP numbers.
A company’s market cap is a proxy of its net worth in the eyes of public markets and changes constantly, while GDP measures the economic output of a country in a given year.
But companies directly and indirectly affect the economies of countries around the world. With international reach, wealth accumulation, and impact, it’s important to consider just how much wealth and power these companies have.
Economy
Mapped: Unemployment Claims by State
This visual heatmap of unemployment claims by state highlights New York, California, and Alaska leading the country by a wide margin.
Mapped: Weekly Unemployment Claims by State
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Unemployment claims per 100,000 people is a handy metric for gauging the health of the job market. Generally speaking, a higher number of claims suggests that more people are unemployed, which may highlight issues with the economy.
In this graphic, we’ve visualized the number of weekly initial unemployment claims per 100,000 people in the labor force across the U.S., using data from WalletHub. All figures are for the week ending Feb 26, 2024, with data being released in early March.
State | Unemployment Claims per 100,000 People in the Labor Force |
---|---|
New York | 305 |
California | 246 |
Alaska | 227 |
New Jersey | 180 |
Vermont | 169 |
Connecticut | 162 |
Pennsylvania | 161 |
Hawaii | 161 |
Wisconsin | 145 |
Massachusetts | 144 |
Nevada | 142 |
DC | 138 |
Washington | 134 |
Rhode Island | 133 |
Oregon | 130 |
Illinois | 127 |
Minnesota | 121 |
Michigan | 118 |
Idaho | 117 |
Wyoming | 112 |
New Hampshire | 111 |
West Virginia | 108 |
Iowa | 106 |
Montana | 102 |
Texas | 100 |
Maine | 96 |
Ohio | 95 |
Colorado | 86 |
Arkansas | 86 |
Arizona | 85 |
Georgia | 85 |
Tennessee | 83 |
Alabama | 80 |
Missouri | 79 |
New Mexico | 77 |
Kansas | 74 |
Indiana | 73 |
Kentucky | 71 |
North Dakota | 70 |
South Carolina | 69 |
Louisiana | 68 |
Mississippi | 67 |
Maryland | 64 |
Oklahoma | 58 |
North Carolina | 55 |
Nebraska | 52 |
Utah | 52 |
Florida | 51 |
Virginia | 48 |
Delaware | 42 |
South Dakota | 28 |
Across the country, there are 6.1 million Americans unemployed as of end of February, resulting in a national unemployment rate of around 3.9%. Notably, this is the highest figure seen since January 2022.
States With the Largest Increases
For further context, we can examine the change in unemployment claims by state for the period of Jan 1- Feb 26, in 2024 and 2023.
States that saw the biggest rise over this period were New York, New Jersey, and Nevada. A top 10 list can be found below.
State | Change in Unemployment Claims (Jan-Feb, 2023 vs 2024) |
---|---|
New York | 2,725% |
New Jersey | 2,132% |
Nevada | 505% |
Arizona | 51% |
Iowa | 45% |
Maryland | 35% |
North Carolina | 34% |
Virginia | 31% |
Montana | 25% |
Oklahoma | 24% |
From a broader perspective, weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance across the U.S. have hovered around the low 200,000s in 2024. This is generally in line with figures seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the week of April 4, 2020, unemployment claims spiked to 6.137 million due to COVID-related lockdowns and business closures.
Learn More About the U.S Job Market
Before you go, be sure to check out Visualizing the American Workforce as 100 People to gain a unique perspective on the U.S. economy.
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